The Marinid Necropolis

A rectangular enclosure 54m long and 35m wide and pierced with two gates, one on the southwest side and the other on the northwest side, circumscribes this complex.
The khalwa is made up of three entities which are the mosque of Abou Youssef Yacoub, the funerary domes and the madrasa.

Access is through a pointed horseshoe arch of exceptional elegance, opening onto the sahn (courtyard) of the mosque, marked by unmarked tombs.

Built under the orders of the Sultan, this dome emerges from a series of tombs and forms a square of 6.00m side, three sides of which open through large bays onto the funerary enclosure. The fourth side presents an original layout which bears witness to the former wealth and splendor of the necropolis. A profuse ornamentation is displayed there; it covers the walls built of carefully arranged cut stones and offers one of the most beautiful ornamental creations on stones dating from the Marinid reign.

On the exterior side of the mausoleum, on the garden side of the towers, the decoration is divided into two large registers framed by two epigraphic bands. The first occupies the middle; it reproduces a combination of architectural tracery supported by three scalloped arches on engaged columns. These surround three niches furnished with a profuse decoration alternating epigraphic eulogies and other florals based on smooth palmettes and foliage. “Formerly colored and closely linked to the elongated geometric interlacing of the frame”, the links are decorated with a “hollow shell, between two double-backed palm fronds”.
Two inscriptions frame this middle register. The first, in Kufic characters, is deployed on three cartridges, the one in the upper part of which is wider in order to raise the facade. The second develops in cursive characters on all four sides. Each side of these bands is enclosed in a cartridge whose ribbons intertwine at the ends and delimit a medallion with four lobes. It reproduces the following inscription:

A corbelled frieze with stalactites dominates the whole and reproduces an arcade whose niches are furnished with repetitive eulogies in Kufic script enriched with smooth double palmettes. Two corner consoles support a canopy protecting and crowning the facade.

The funerary stele of Shems D’ha, currently preserved in the site’s conservation reserves, is a stele fashioned in white marble, measuring 1.79m in length, 0.23m in width at the base and 0.20m in height.

The inscriptions on the funerary stele of Shems D’ha inform us that it is indeed the tomb of the mother of Sultan Abu Inan, son of Sultan Abu El Hassan. Her death occurred on the night of Friday to Saturday, the 4th of Rajab, in the year 750 of the Hegira, and she was buried after the Friday prayer of the same month, in the presence of her son Sultan Abu Inan and the dignitaries of the East and West who came in deputation to attend her funeral.

The prayer hall, wider than it is deep, measures 15.75m by 5.80m. It is divided by baked brick pillars supporting horseshoe arches into three naves perpendicular to the qibla wall. The central nave, wider and higher, leads to the mihrab (2.10m by 1.45m), surrounded by a narrow ambulatory (0.70m), long venerated by locals, likened to Mecca, and considered a pilgrimage site for the poor. A weathered plaster decoration offers remnants of an ornamentation covering the spandrels and possibly extending to the mihrab frieze. A braided three-strand pattern framed a floral combination of smooth palmettes forming an architectural lattice with lobed pairs of digitate palmettes decorating the mesh.

A square open-air area occupies two-thirds of the structure, forming the sahn of the madrasah. It is surrounded on all four sides by a gallery supported by white marble columns and pillars, with only the bases remaining. Rectangular cells (2.00m by 2.50m) are arranged on the lateral sides, while a large space, possibly a courtyard or meeting room, faces the oratory and introduces a sense of balance to the madrasa’s organization. Two staircases, with visible traces, led to the upper floor, likely housing additional cells for students served by a balustraded gallery, similar to those in the al-Sabiyyin (1321-23) and al-Misbahiya (1344-46) madrasas in Fez.

On the facades, the ornamentation appears, at first glance, identical. Two polylobed arches rest on octagonal engaged columns, forming two twin niches on each face. From these, two types of lozenge-shaped interlaces emerge, alternating on the four faces of the tower. The treatment of decorative motifs follows the same principle, making ceramic marquetry the driving element of each combination. The meshes on the North and South faces are adorned with black eight-pointed stars highlighted with green ribbons. On the East and West faces, a more complex arrangement emerges. Outlined by prominent stone ribbons, the interlacing meshes enclose a repetitive zellige pattern based on pairs of lobed smooth palmettes, their large lobes stretching vertically to form a blossom from which a bud emerges. Thus, the use of ceramic marquetry sets it apart from the Almohad combinations of the Hassan Mosque and the Koutoubiya, introducing a liveliness that would make it renowned and ensure its almost continuous presence in post-medieval Moroccan architecture.
Above, the lantern, despite its disproportionate shape, boasts rich geometric decoration distributed over three levels. The first covers the lower part, reproducing a zellige panel outlined by black bands punctuated with eight-pointed stars. The second occupies the middle part, consisting of a braided arrangement of white bands that unfold on either side of a niche and enclose new eight-petal stars in black and very dark violet. The last register runs above the previous one, offering an interpretation of the eight-pointed star forming rosettes, identical to those already developed in plaster, preceding the roof or announcing the carved wooden frieze.

Built between 739-59/1339-58, the hammam is rectangular in shape (28.50m by 10.40m) and reproduces the classic plan of the Moorish bath. An angled entrance leads to the undressing room. The latter, now destroyed, “was formed by a central bay of square plan and two side galleries vaulted with groins”.

It opens onto three adjoining rooms topped with vaults: a cold room, a second warm room and a hot room with a niche “which must have contained a basin or a trough of hot water”. A hypocaust covered with vaulted cloister arches and a fireplace under the hot room provided heating for the establishment and at the same time the supply of hot water to its regulars.

The eels that were introduced there are sanctified; popular memory ascribes the barakas to them and surrounds them with mythical veneration. “Many legends” recall the terrible punishment reserved for those who would do them any harm. Those who would even dare to question their supernatural character or their power would be seized with violent pains in their joints. Women and children throw hard-boiled eggs, bread etc. and beg them to “ward off evil fate” and expel their evils while others engage in rites of propitiation.

In order for the wishes of the person who goes there to be fulfilled, he or she would have to perform a whole ritual: first feeding the eels, then visiting the nearby marabouts and finally bathing with the waters of the Chellah spring.